"Evolution is better than Revolution.
New Thought Library's New Thought Archives encompass a full range of New Thought from Abrahamic to Vedic.
New Thought literature reflects the ongoing evolution of human thought.
New Thought's unique inclusion of science, art and philosophy presents a dramatic contrast with the magical thinking of decadent religions
that promulgate supersticions standing in the way of progress to shared peace and prosperity."
~ Avalon de Rossett

Chapter Eleven - Other Organizations

THE development
of the mental-healing movement in the early years was largely due to the
teaching of various leaders whose students in turn became leaders, many
of them founders of different phases of the movement in the East, the Middle
West and far West of the USA. Thus, as already indicated, the instruction
given by Mrs. Stuart of Hyde Park, Mass., led to pioneer work in Hartford
and New York. In the same way Mrs. Emma Curtis Hopkins became a teacher
of leaders in Chicago and San Francisco. Among the latter may be mentioned
Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, who established the branch of the movement
known as Practical Christianity, published Thought, now called Unity, Wee Wisdom's Way, the first mental-healing magazine for children,
and founded other departments of the work of The Society of Silent Unity,
Kansas City; Charles A. and Josephine Barton, editors of The Life,
Kansas City; T. J. Shelton, editor of Scientific Christian; Helen
Wilmans, editor of Wilman's Express and author of The Blossom
of the Century and other volumes; and Ella Wheeler Wilcox, the well
known New Thought writer. Another of Mrs. Hopkins' students was Mr. Paul
Militz, who with Mr. Shelton, was the first to teach Mrs. Elizabeth Towne,
editor of Nautilus, Holyoke, Mass., and author of many excellent
books on the New Thought. Still another was Miss Annie E. Rix, who later
became Mrs. Militz, in turn one of the leaders of the movement on the Pacific
Coast.

The history of the movement
in California dates from 1887, when Mrs. Hopkins, formerly one of Mrs.
Eddy's students, went to San Francisco at the request of interested people
and taught a class of 250 people, including Mrs. Sadie Gorie, Miss Harriet
Hale Rix, and Mrs. Militz, then Miss Rix. * The name for mental healing
employed at first was Christian Science, but the first society was known
as The Pacific Coast Metaphysical Bureau, later called the Christian Science
Home, then the Home of Truth, the name which has been retained for mental-healing
centres on the Pacific coast. The Home of Truth in Alameda was established
in 1893. Later, similar centres were opened in Los Angeles, San Diego,
Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, Berkeley, and Sierra Madre, California;
also at Victoria, B. C., and Walla Walla, Washington.

*The first book was by
Julia Anderson Root, The Healing Power of Mind, San Francisco, 1884.

Mrs. Militz, who became the
leading teacher in California, moved in 1896 to Los Angeles and established
the Home of Truth there. Mrs., Militz was also the leader in the establishment
of the other Homes of Truth in California. The Master Mind, the
monthly periodical representing this branch of the movement, was begun
in 1911. The Home of Truth idea has gradually been extended to other parts
of the country, and has become a widely recognized plan for New Thought
work and propaganda.

The work of the original
Home of Truth in San Francisco is typical of this work at its best. The
location of the Home was changed several times, and in the great fire of
1906 the building with all its contents was destroyed. "The constructive
spirit of San Francisco showed itself in the activity of the Home, which
almost immediately went to work arranging for its meetings in the homes
of students until a suitable place could be found for its permanent housing.
Besides the thousands of adults who have been taught the true life and
who have been freed from poverty and all manner of disease, especial attention
has been given to children, the Sunday-school class-work for them forming
an important feature in the Home. Several true visions have been launched,
supported by free-will offerings for a few years, then passed into the
invisible, there to be strengthened until the race is ready to receive
them back in full force, such as a kindergarten, a woman's exchange, Homes
of Truth for children, and centres where unhoused men may find the atmosphere
of a true home and comfort.

"There are two Rest Homes
in connection with the work, one in San Jose and the other in Garvanza,
where students and patients abide while being delivered from limitation.
A beautiful expression of this inspired work is now in full activity under
the supervision of Mrs. Militz, in connection with the Los Angeles Home,
known as 'The University of Christ,' where teacher- students are trained
to open and minister in Centres of Truth.

"A vital Men's Meeting conducted
by men only has found true devotion and highest results in aiding men to
feel at home in the truth. There is one in the San Francisco Home and one
in the Los Angeles Home, with weekly gatherings. As the Home idea may not
be confined to a house with many rooms and servants, but may find expression
in a flat, apartment, hotel, boat-house, cottage or room, so the Home of
Truth idea has found ideal expression in many small centres of truth known
by various names such as 'The Down Town Centre,' San Francisco, with its
'Noon-day Talks.' "

The idea of the Home of Truth
has been expressed by one of the leaders as follows: "A presentation of
Jesus Christ's teachings and practice is offered to the world in these
Homes that is believed to be the primitive ministry of Christianity which
was given to the world for man's healing or salvation--body, mind, soul,
and estate. The chief teacher and founder is Jesus Christ; the great authority
for our belief is the Holy Spirit within each one; and the church is the
whole body of divine humanity everywhere, visible and invisible, all being
brothers and sisters, with one Father-Mother whose name is God.

"The text-books are: first,
the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, especially the words of
Jesus Christ; second, the remaining books of the Bible; and third, all
other Scriptures and writings that have blessed humanity. We do not organize,
have formed no new church or creed, but recognize that the homes of the
nation are the spiritually natural places for worship and for the healing
and teaching ministry. The true home is the beginning of heaven on earth,
promised by the Spirit and prophesied by the Christ.

"The Home of Truth teaches
the absolute doctrine of the Allness of God the Good, and that love to
God and to the neighbor is one. It teaches the divinity of man and his
unity with God; that heaven is within and is to be proved in thought, word
and deed. It teaches that health, joy, and prosperity are spiritual and
belong fully to those who know truth and live the life.

"The healing ministry is
the same as that of Jesus Christ, who healed through knowledge and by speaking
the word of truth, silently and audibly. No charge is made for any of its
ministrations, for all the gifts of God are free; therefore we are not
under the law of barter. According to the law of love we give freely and
receive freely, under the free-will offering plan. Each Home is independent
of all the others financially and in the use of methods, and yet all are
in perfect harmony as to the main purpose. Each Home aspires to be one
of all the Homes of Truth throughout the earth. Its most earnest desire
is that every home shall be a healing centre where anyone who loves the
truth may find spiritual refreshment, instruction and counsel, 'without
money and without price'; where they may be healed physically and morally,
and become themselves instruments of blessing, to hasten the day of a redeemed
world.

"There is a Sunday-school
for children connected with each Home, Bible classes, healing meetings,
devotional services, daily individual healing and class-instruction. The
Metaphysical Library in San Francisco, situated at 126 Post Street, is
a product of the Homes of Truth, and is managed by a committee containing
several of its devoted workers."

Mrs. Militz taught classes
in Chicago, 1898-1902, when she was leader of the Chicago Truth Centre
and speaker for the Prentice Mulford Club. She also taught classes in Boston,
Brooklyn and New York City, and then began a two years' teaching tour of
the world, spending seven months in Japan, four in India, and six in England.
In 1913 Mrs., Militz made a second tour of the world, accompanied by three
students, Miss Grace Wilson, afterward secretary of the International New
Thought Alliance; Mrs. Anna. C. Howlett, and Miss Florence N. Johnson.
During this tour Mrs. Militz taught in Honolulu, in the four largest cities
of Australia, in Paris, England and Scotland.

In Denver, Colorado, the
first phase of the therapeutic movement to become generally known was due
to the teachings of Malinda E. Cramer, Fannie B. James, and other Divine
Scientists. The Colorado College of Divine Science, located at 730 East
17th St., was incorporated in 1898, "for the purpose of instruction in
the law and order of Divine Healing as declared by Jesus Christ, and for
the promotion of the religious, educational and ethical principles [of]
the system known as Divine Science." Miss Nona L. Brooks is president,
and Mrs. Ruth R. Smith, secretary-treasurer. The books used include Truth
and Health, by Fannie B. James; Studies in Divine Science, by
Mrs. C. L. Baum; and Divine Science and Healing, by Mrs. Cramer.
The ninth annual assembly of the college was held Feb. 4-6, 1919. The activities
of this branch of Divine Science include the Missouri College of Divine
Science, under ·the leadership of H. H. Schroeder, St. Louis, Mo.;
Rev. Mr. Murray's First Divine Science Church of New York City; and Glints
of Wisdom, edited by T. M. Minard, Portland, Oregon.

Power, a monthly magazine
edited and published by Charles E. Prather, Denver, contains a Higher Thought
directory of Truth Centres and Divine Science Centres. Mr. Prather's Power
School of Truth, incorporated 1916, is in part an outgrowth of the Unity
movement in Kansas City. His magazine bears the sub-title "The Higher Thought
Magazine of Practical Christianity." Thus the several names and terms prove
to be virtually interchangeable, and the term New Thought may once more
be taken in its representative sense as standing for Divine Science, the
Higher Thought and Practical Christianity.

The same interchangeable
use of terms is to be observed in the case of one of the most vigorous
of the New Thought periodicals, Now, published in San Francisco,
Cal., described in its sub-title as "a Monthly Journal of Positive Affirmations,
devoted to Mental Science and the Art of Living." This magazine was established
by Henry Harrison Brown, in 1900. Its basic affirmation is, "Man is spirit
here and now, with all the possibilities of Divinity within him and he
can consciously manifest these possibilities here and now." Mr. Brown was
well known as the author of New Thought Primer, San Francisco, 1903,
and other volumes on mental healing. He was succeeded by Sam E. Foulds
as editor of Now. The kind of mental science implied in the above
mentioned sub-title is that of the New Thought in general, after the use
of affirmations pertaining to every phase of life came into vogue.

The World's Advance Thought, edited and published by Mrs. Lucy A. Mallory, Portland, Oregon, was the
pioneer mental-healing publication in the far Northwest. In the state of
Washington, interest early appeared in Helen Wilmans' type of mental science,
and a Mental Science Association was organized in Seattle. The first convention
was held in Seattle in 1899. The second convention representing this mental
science was held at Seabreeze, Florida, in 1900.

Prior to 1907, W. K. Jones
was a leading pioneer in making the New Thought known in Portland, Oregon.
In 1907, Benj. Fay Mills held a series of meetings and classes on Emerson,
Whitman, and the Bhagavad Gita. From these classes there followed
a society known as the Fellowship Society of Portland, Oregon, with the
late Clara Bewick Colby as president. There was also a council of five
appointed, Dr. J. J. Story, Perry Joseph Green, Mrs. O. N. Denny, Dr. Mary
Thompson, and T. O. Hague, with Florence A. Sullenberg, secretary. Tuesday
evenings were set apart for the study of Emerson's Essays, and out
of these groups came the present Emerson Study Circle, which meets at the
Metaphysical Library. Other centres developed from the Fellowship Society
and adopted the name New Thought.

Rev. Victor Henry Morgan
of Tacoma, Washington, a Universalist pastor in good standing, preaches
from his pulpit the New Thought philosophy, and practises mental healing;
but prefers to stay in the organization to which he belongs. A considerable
movement has emanated from the teachings of Mrs. Agnes Galer in Seattle,
Washington. She has taught for several years, organized a school and church,
educated several teachers, and workers who in turn have organized classes,
and the general movement is known as Divine Science, while the classes
are generally called Truth Centres.

Mr. Granville Lowther reports
that there is "a widespread influence, not so well organized, growing out
of the teachings of Mrs. Militz and Harriet Hale Rix through their magazine, Master Mind. This type of teaching is like Christian Science in
that its adherents believe that mind is the only reality. In philosophy
they would be called subjective idealists. They deny reality of matter. Unity has a considerable number of readers, and a few Unity classes
are organized. They too teach subjective idealism, but I have generally
found that the average reader does not fully understand the difference
between the two philosophies of subjective and objective idealism. What
they want is something to help them in the practical duties and responsibilities
of life. Nautilus, edited by Mrs. Towne, has a larger number of
readers than all other New Thought magazines in the district. Mrs. Towne's
philosophy is that of objective idealism, that is, she believes in the
reality of matter. . . .

"One of the largest movements
in the district perhaps is located at Spokane under the leadership of Rev
J. K. Grier. Mr. Grier was once pastor of a Universalist church In Spokane.
There seemed to be some conflict between himself and the leaders of his
church on the question of healing. He adopted what is practically our New
Thought philosophy, but prefers not to be called by that name. He has organized
a good church, erected a good church building with large audience poem,
class rooms, healing rooms, basement and kitchen. The machinery of his
church is working with splendid energy. He has an assistant pastor, Rev.
E. Edward Mills. They are holding considerable missionary work in sending
out teachers and workers in different directions."

In Los Angeles, Cal., the
Metaphysical Library was founded by Eleanor M. Reesberg, in 1902. Miss
Reesberg, who was one of the pioneer lecturers in California, issues a
Metaphysicians' bulletin. The May-July number, 1919, contains the announcement
of the sixteenth annual Metaphysicians' May Festival, which was held in
Los Angeles, May 1-3. The speakers included Harriet Hale Rix, Florence
Crawford, Swami Paramananda, Edward B. Warman, W. Frederick Keeler, Jessie
W. Boerstler, Henry Victor Morgan, and James E. Dodds.

The Aquarian Ministry, "a
Christ-ministry devoted to healing, teaching and the awakening of the latent
soul-powers," Geo. B. Brownell and Louise B. Brownell, healers, is another
branch of the therapeutic movement in Los Angeles. The Universal New Thought
Studio and Lecture Room is in charge of Miss Grace Wilson, formerly secretary
of the New Thought Alliance, The activities of this centre include Sunday
services, class instruction, a New Thought singing school, healing meetings,
and "fundamentals of New Thought for children." District conferences of
the Alliance are held under the auspices of Miss Rix, who is vice-president
for Southern California and Arizona, assisted by the teachers and members
of the Alliance.

In Chicago and New York,
as in other large cities, the movement has passed through all the phases
from mental science in its early forms to the New Thought of the present
day, and the societies are too numerous for special mention. Among recent
organizations of note in these cities, The League for the Larger Life,
New York City, is most notable, since it endeavors to bring together all
centres and leaders in a common interest. The officers of the League when
incorporated were Orison Swett Marden, president; Miss Mary Allen, first
vice-president; Mrs. Maud P. Messner, second vice-president; Eugene Del
Mar, third vice-president, since chosen president; Dr. Julia Seton, fourth
vice-president; Mrs. Laura G. Cannon, secretary; Charles Crapp, auditor;
with Walter Goodyear, Miss Edith A. Martin, Mrs. Clara Barstow, and Mrs.
D. L. Hunt, as additional officers. The League issues a directory of leaders
of the New Thought in Greater New York, holds regular Sunday services addressed
by the leaders, with classes and healing meetings during the week. A Union
Meeting is held the second Sunday of each month. At its headquarters, 222
W. 72nd St., the League furnishes teachers and speakers for public meetings,
and supplies books through a circulating library and store.

The League is incorporated
under the laws of the State of New York, and its purposes are, "to spread
a knowledge of the fundamental principles that underlie healthy and harmonious
living, and which will prevent or alleviate human suffering--mental, moral,
financial and social; to assist the individual in the solution of personal
problems; to encourage self-reliance, self-mastery and efficiency through
constructive thinking and correct psychological and physical methods. The
League aims to provide a place where strangers as well as members may obtain
reliable information about The Larger Life Movement--its centres, lectures,
teachers and literature."

Another branch of the therapeutic
movement owes Its origin to the work off Dr. Julia Seton (Sears), who chose
the name Church and School of the New Civilization. The first church was
founded in Boston by Dr. Seton, in September, 1905, now under the leadership
of Miss Emma C. Poore. The second centre was founded in New York in 1907,
with Dr. Seton as minister; the third in Brooklyn, N. Y., May Cornell Stoiber,
minister; the fourth in London, England, Muriel Brown, minister. Other
churches were established in Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo, N. Y.; Chicago;
Denver, Colo.; and one in California. These churches are organized on the
basis of twelve fundamental principles. The school is a regular part of
the work, and has departments devoted to metaphysics, philosophy, mysticism
and music.

The central statement is
that the "New Civilization Church came because mankind built it with its
desires. It is the deep of supply answering to the deep of need. It will
remain because mankind can use it as sane, sensible, spiritual substance,
with which he can pass his life into higher manifestation of health, wealth,
love, service and worship. This church believes in all churches, all creeds
and all people, without regard to class, creed or color, Anyone can come
into the new church and learn its fundamentals and principles and return
to his own church, his own country, his own class, his own people and better
fulfill his life's destiny.

"The New Thought church .
. . knows no evil. It has only the wisdom of a perfected universe, in perfect
situations, among perfect people; there are no errors in the great eternal
plan. What [man] calls dark and damned is to him wholly significant of
God--God is All--there is no life but God. God had only one substance out
of which to make the world and that was Himself. . . .

"The new church is filled
with a congregation who have been redeemed out from all countries, all
races, all peoples, and all colors into the ONE life that is in All and
through All. Into this great religion has come the evolved Brahman, the
evolved Buddhist, the evolved Jew, the evolved Mohammedan, and the evolved
Christian, bringing with them all that was worthy to exist in the old.
These united in a purpose of it higher humanity, have formed a fulcrum
of spiritual power through which the upper masters of the spheres can drag
onward the whole human race."

After the organization of
the Metaphysical Club in Boston, the next step was to start similar societies
in other cities in New England, and then to bring the various New Thought
Centres into a central organization. Meanwhile the movement had been growing
rapidly and there was a general desire for a society to represent New Thought
interests as a whole. Steps were taken toward the formation of such a society
in the summer of 1908. The first meeting of the representatives from the
New England states was held in the Metaphysical Club Hall, Boston, November
14, 1910. Mr. R. C. Douglass, who was present in behalf of the National
New Thought Alliance, advocated a federation of centres in New England,
although the work of a federation would be different from that of the Alliance.
The society was organized under the name of the New England Federation
of New Thought Centres, with Mrs. Sara G. M. La Vake, Brookline, Mass.,
president pro tem., and Mrs. Frances Tillinghast, Portland, Maine, secretary
pro tem. It was voted to meet semi-annually.

The second conference was
held at Worcester, Mass., March, 1911. The speakers included G. Stanley
Hall, president of Clark University, and Mrs. May Wright Sewall. Mrs. La
Vake was elected president, three vice-presidents were chosen; Miss Harriette
Bragee, Boston, was elected secretary; and Miss Ardella Farnam, Worcester,
treasurer. Succeeding conferences were held in Portland, Maine, November,
1911; Boston, 1912, when Dr. Anna B. Parker of Boston, was elected president,
Miss Alice E. Strong of Boston, secretary, and Mrs. La Vake was made honorary
president; Lynn, Mass., November, 1912; Cambridge, Mass., November, 1913;
April, 1914, when Mrs. Mary E. Chandler of Providence, R. I., was elected
president. In November, 1914, the Federation met at Hartford, Conn.; in
April, 1915, at Boston, Dr. G. C. B. Ewell, president; in November, 1915,
at Stoughton, Mass.; in April, 1916, at Boston under the auspices of the
Church of the Higher Life, when Mrs. Mary E. Thayer of Boston was chosen
president; in November, 1916, at Springfield, Mass.; and in April, 1917,
at Boston, in co-operation with the New Thought Forum.

There were then 33 New Thought
Centres in New England represented in the Federation, "banded together
in loyal comradeship . . . adding the zest of a social touch which makes
us members of one family dwelling together in brotherly love." The secretary
reported that the "smaller centres have been greatly strengthened, with
the incentive of individuality in a broad cooperation; and the larger centres
have extended their interest through acquaintance with many New Thought
neighbors they would never have known except through affiliation. For the
keynote of our assembling is for mutual aid in living and presenting the
truth to each other and the world. . . . Many times the smallest circles
give rich return in our heart-to-heart counsel, for the spirit is not measured
by numbers." In 1915, the Federation delegated the president, Mrs. La Vake,
to represent the Federation at the congress in San Francisco.

The Metaphysical Guild of
Boston was organized for the "Promotion of Spiritual Understanding," and
the first meeting was held April 4, 1915, the first interest being to meet
the need for a New Thought meeting in Boston on Sunday evenings, and to
give an opportunity to visiting teachers to address audiences at Metaphysical
Hall. The speakers have included Walter Devoe, Henry Victor Morgan and
T. J. Shelton. The members assist the New Thought work in various ways,
corresponding with people in state prisons, visiting the sick, opening
homes for those in need of friendly service. The Guild was organized by
Mrs. Clara Haven Wallace. The New Thought Library and Reading Room, 120
Boylston St., the most recently organized Society in Boston, is devoted
to the same activities as those of the Metaphysical Club. The New Thought
Forum is a free platform for the discussion of liberal questions of all
types. There is also a Home of Truth. Sunday services are held by Miss
Poore, Mrs. C. E. C. Norris and other leaders.

The New-Thought movement
in Cincinnati, Ohio, owes its origin to Christian D. Larson, who in January,
1901, organized the New Thought Temple, at his residence, 947 West Seventeenth
St. In September of that year Mr. Larson began to publish Eternal Progress,
for several years one of the leading New Thought periodicals. In November,
1902, Sunday morning services were inaugurated. At this service fifteen
minutes' silence was a leading feature, A little church building seating
three hundred people was secured in 1904. Mr. Larson resigned in 1907,
and was succeeded by Paul Tyner, in November, 1908. Harry Gaze was the
next leader, and then Miss Leila Simon, in 1912.

Miss Simon's report of the
situation in Cincinnati at the time, after a lull in the work there, indicates
the kind of work sometimes accomplished in building up a society which
had lost headway. Miss Simon says: "I found the New Thought Temple Society
struggling along without a leader, disorganized, inharmonious, with forty-seven
members on the roster, about one-half of which were active. They were without
adequate funds, and found difficulty in paying the small expense of $30.00
per month rent for a hall for Sunday services. Besides this deplorable
internal condition, New Thought in Cincinnati had neither recognition nor
standing in the community. It was thought to consist of long-haired men
and short-haired women, who were queer, erratic, crazy fork. Today we have
about nine hundred members, call out an audience of fifteen hundred, own
property amounting to $26,000.00, besides having more than $3,500.00 in
the bank. We have gained the respect of all Cincinnati, and number among
our members the most cultivated and prominent men and women of the city.

"My first New Thought service
brought out an audience of less than twenty-five people. Two years later
I spoke constantly to from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred people.

"From the outset, I considered
the work of The New Thought Temple entirely separate from personality.
It was not mine, but impelled by the Spirit of God, and it is this conviction
and consecration that is the moving Power of The New Thought Temple. My
first thought from the beginning of my ministry and today is 'If you believe
in God's power, prove it.' If you teach health, harmony and prosperity,
furnish the actual proofs. . . .

"My first move was to refuse
to recognize the poverty-stricken consciousness of the New Thought Temple
actually. I firmly set aside all gratuitous invitations from members who
offered to lend their homes for classes, etc., and also refused to house
the activities in cheap rooms. As we had no money this was a radical step.
My first classes were held in my own apartment, situated in the best part
of Cincinnati. The Sunday services were held in a hall seating one hundred
people. In less than three months we had outgrown this hall, and my apartment
classrooms. Before the end of the first year, we had audiences of five
hundred and were finally crowded out of a large auditorium and compelled
to rent the Orpheum Theatre, (at a weekly rental of $55.00), with a seating
capacity of fifteen hundred, to accommodate the people who wished to attend
the Sunday services. For two years we held services in this theatre with
capacity audiences. . . .

"After the first two years,
the New Thought Temple financed easily without deficit, an expense account
of $10,000.00 a year. We kept to our initial, inflexible rule of paying
bills on sight, and called into operation the Law of Giving and receiving,
by making no definite charges either for healing or classes. The third
year we bought a lot for $12,000.00, paying for it in a little more than
a year's time. On October 22nd, 1918, we moved into the lower structure
of The New Thought Temple, which has been erected at a cost of $14,000.00,
having all indebtedness discharged on the day we accepted the building
from the contractors, an unprecedented feat for any church in the city.

"The New Thought Temple is
thoroughly but flexibly organized, with a Board of Trustees of eleven men.
It is the only church in the country, I believe, whose membership outnumbers
its seating capacity, thus necessitating two Sunday services to separate
congregations. There is a marvelous spirit of harmony, cooperation and
fine unselfish service. Among its activities last year [1916] and the year
preceding, were a free bread-line where more than six thousand men a week
were fed, and an established mission. We have a splendid Sunday-school,
weekly classes, and give free lectures to the public at intervals in one
of the largest theatres in the city. Many thousands of people here have
been influenced and benefited by the New Thought message."

In St. Louis, Mo., the movement
known as Practical Christianity was the first to be established, also a
German branch of the movement under the leadership of H. H. Schroeder,
editor since 1893 of Das Wort, a periodical devoted to mental-healing
for German-Americans. The first New Thought Centre was organized September
23, 1910. A few People who had been meeting once or twice a month at a
private house met on that occasion for a public statement of the principles
for which they stood. Everett W. Pattison was chosen president and the
name adopted was Metaphysical League. Later, the name was changed to New
Thought League, with Miss Harriet C. Hulick, manager. Meetings have been
regularly held on Sunday and Friday evenings. The resident speakers have
included Charles T. Kenney, Charles P. Tiley, P. M. Bruner, and Miss H.
C. Hulick.

The founder of the Order
of the White Rose and the College of Divine Sciences and Realization, Cleveland,
Ohio, Rev. J. F. C. Grumbine, began his work in Geneseo, Illinois., in
1894, and with the publication of a quarterly magazine, Immortality,
in Chicago. Mr. Grumbine was a Universalist, then a Unitarian minister.
He was one of the pioneer New Thought lecturers and teachers, and has taught
many hundreds of students in Boston and other parts of the United States,
in Australia and England. His College of Divine Sciences and Realization
is a correspondence school and has taught students from all parts of the
world. Mr. Grumbine calls his ideal "Universal Religion," and endeavors
to show that science is both divine and natural. He is lecturer to the
Psycho Science Society, in Cleveland, whose church buildings include an
auditorium and parsonage.

In Philadelphia, Pa., the
pioneer teachers were Miss Ellen M. Dyer and Miss Christian. A Truth Centre
flourished there for a time, and later gave place to the Unity Centre and
the Truth Centre. In Washington, D. C., the pioneer teacher and healer
was Miss Emma Gray, of the Christian Science Institute, now known as the
National New Thought Centre, under the leadership of Miss Gray and Dr.
Ricker. Miss Gray is vice-president of the International New Thought Alliance
for the District of Columbia, and Maryland. Mrs. Florence Willard Day began
her therapeutic work in Washington in 1898, and established The Temple
of Truth in 1904.

Starting with borrowed capital
amounting to $30.00, Mrs. Elizabeth Towne, then Mrs. J. H. Struble, has
gradually built up a publishing house and a magazine, Nautilus,
which has probably had the largest circulation of any New Thought periodical.
Mrs. Towne began with the publication of a four-page pamphlet in her home
in Portland, Oregon. Later, she moved to Holyoke, Mass., where with her
husband, Mr. William E. Towne, she has developed the publishing business
and taken an active part in New Thought propagandism. Nautilus,
sold extensively on the newsstands, has taken the place of many of the
earlier magazines, and is typical of the New Thought in its most popular
and prosperous form.

Unity, Kansas City,
is still the representative magazine of the branch of the movement known
as practical Christianity. Its editors and their associates have not identified
their activities with the therapeutic movement in general, but have widely
extended their influence by organizing The Society of Silent Unity, which
has many thousands of members throughout the world. Every day at noon and
every evening at nine o'clock the members of this society go apart for
a brief period of meditation on the "class thought" sent out by the magazine
each month. The thought for the noon meditation for April, 1919, was "Peace
be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces," and for the evening,
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains, from whence cometh my help."
This society was organized in behalf of the absent healing department of
the Unity work. Extensive work through correspondence is one of the activities
centering in Kansas City, where is located The Unity School of Christianity,
with a fine modern building, containing a large auditorium and class-rooms,
No fees are demanded for membership in the Society of Silent Unity, but
members are asked to make voluntary contributions to defray expenses. Every
month the magazine prints testimonials as to the value of its work in behalf
of the sick and those seeking prosperity and improved conditions. The announcement
of the Society says, "You can become a member of this Society and receive
its help, if you have faith in the power of God. We will pray to the Father
in secret and he will reward you openly. This promise is being fulfilled
daily in his work." *

The Unity movement is operated
as a corporation under the name of Unity School of Christianity. Remuneration
is based on whatever those benefited are moved to give. The Unity Tract
Society is the publishing department of the work. The Unity buildings cover
more than an acre and the publications reach 500,000 people.

* What we have undertaken
to do in this chapter is to give, not an exhaustive account of the organizations,
but an account of those that are typical. Some of the omissions are due
to the fact that there are organizations which have failed to give the
needed information concerning their present activities. A few of the leaders
have preferred to have only brief mention made of their work. Further information
concerning the societies may he obtained by consulting the leading magazines,
and the bulletins issued by the various libraries and centres. The historian
will be glad to receive additional information from time to time concernIng
all the organizations and leaders.

New Thought Holidays

New Thought Day was declared by James Edgerton on August 23rd, 1915
During research while expanding the free New Thought Library,
one of the ministers came across an interesting quote from early New Thought Alliance President James A. Edgerton:
"'The truth, once announced, has the power not only to renew but to extend itself.
New Thought is universal in its ideals and therefore should be universal in its appeal.
Under the guidance of the spirit, it should grow in good works until it embraces many lands and eventually the whole world.'
~
New Thought Day, August 23rd
, 1915."

"'The truth, once announced, has the power not only to renew but to extend itself.
New Thought is universal in its ideals and therefore should be universal in its appeal.
Under the guidance of the spirit, it should grow in good works until it embraces many lands and eventually the whole world.'
~ James A. Edgerton, New Thought Day, August 23rd, 1915."

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